DMK allots one LS seat to KMDK

Chennai, Feb 26: The Opposition DMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday allotted one seat to its ally, the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi (KMDK), for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls.

An agreement to this effect was signed between DMK President M K Stalin and KMDK General Secretary E R Eswaran after holding seat-sharing talks at the DMK headquarters 'Anna Arivalayam'.

The KMDK would contest the polls under the DMK's 'Rising Sun' symbol in the elections, a DMK release here said. The lone seat to be contest by KMDK would be identified later. The DMK had already finalised the seat sharing agreement with the Congress and the IUML, by allotting nine and one seats respectively.

Mr Stalin had said that the DMK would contest the remaining seats after allocating seats to other allies like the MDMK, VCK, CPI, CPI(M) and MMK, with whom seat sharing talks were being held. Reports also said that the DMK has been holding parleys with the actor-politician Vijaykanth-led DMDK to rope into its fold.

The ruling AIADMK too had been holding talks and was confident of wooing the DMDK into its fold, despite the latter sticking to its hardened stand of allotting seven LS seats to it--the same number allotted to another ally, the PMK, besides some Assembly seats, as by-elections to 21 constituencies were due.

The DMDK has been harping on the point that it wanted to contest in places where it has significant presence to prove its strength. UNI